[jfengel]

As an actor myself, I find that the Oscar bait is often the "Academy Award for the Most Acting". It has become a cliche that you seek an Oscar by playing a highly damaged character with obvious quirks.

More subtle performances are usually passed over, even though I consider them more challenging. They're often nominated, but rarely win.

Which is fine, since those kinds of films are usually not going to attract big audiences. The Academy Awards are a big industry advertisement, and they get the most bang for their buck by promoting a film that could catch the attention of an audience but hasn't yet.

I find that audiences are often puzzled by the Oscar winners. They go see them, and don't see what the fuss is about. But that does at least fund the next round of movies that are different from the summer blockbusters (which make plenty of money and need no help).

[Waterluvian]

I cannot find a single accolade for J.K. Simmons' role in The Accountant. Heck, I don't even care to evaluate an entire role: that hallway scene[1] is seared into my head and that alone deserves an award if we're going to be giving out awards.

Stephen Root has countless memorable scenes if not entire characters. They're not "acting a lot" or playing highly damaged, complex characters. But they're absolutely nailing the characters in a way that I think, "no other actor could play that character."

Not that these actors don't get the credit they deserve. They're well-known and beloved. But if we're going to hand out awards, character actors like these, and countless others, are incredibly underrepresented.

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRPvXbh-rLM

[gumby]

He's an underrated actor in general, finally getting some starring roles.

[jrm4]

This reminds me of Eddie Murphy's reaction to some "dramatic moment with a look he gave" in Showgirls that everyone reacted to as great acting, and he was like -- "Did you not see me in the Nutty Professor where I was FIVE PEOPLE AT THE SAME TIME? That was harder."

[jfengel]

It's such an odd comment. Doing that is a great stunt... but it's a stunt. None of those characters were really all that well developed. The makeup team did amazing work, and it was an extraordinary technical feat (especially at the time), but Murphy's biggest contribution was some caricature voice work.

It must have been exhausting for him as an actor, and worth a ton of respect. But it's no surprise to me that other actors found it not to be his most interesting work.

Compare Tatiana Maslany, who portrayed multiple characters over several seasons, without prosthetics. If you want a real acting stunt, watch her play some of those characters pretending to be other characters.

I hope she doesn't get slotted entirely into genre films. Not that there's anything wrong with genre films, but all of the special effects tend to obscure what can be really great, subtle work. I'd love to see her do some theater.

Tatiana, if you're reading this ... I'm directing Midsummer Night's Dream next year and you'd be a killer Titania...

[jrm4]

I absolutely fail to see the difference.

If anything, it's MUCH harder to be funny than to be dramatic.

[Tommah]

I think you mean Dreamgirls, not Showgirls.

[bmitc]

> It has become a cliche that you seek an Oscar by playing a highly damaged character with obvious quirks.

Even more likely if it's a biopic, and even, even more likely if the character has a disability. For example, The Theory of Everything vs Birdman for best actor and supporting roles.

[jfengel]

Excellent example. Redmayne is a very talented actor, but that role was awarded for for its acting stunts rather than his understanding of who Hawking really was.

Birdman was very much an actor's movie. I went to see it with my actor friends, and had a wonderful time. Even setting aside the wonderfully long (and tricky) takes, it was an incredible exercise in performing the same scene several times in different ways. It was full of great performances, and Keaton surprised the heck out of everyone.

I notice that Iñárritu has a new film coming out on Netflix soon, Bardo, and I'm really looking forward to it.

[ggambetta]

Rare to find a fellow actor on HN :) You don't have contact details on your profile, but I do - would be interesting in knowing more!

[jfengel]

I'm just an amateur, and I only do local theater. I'm very glad to be able to do programming for a living so that I can do theater the way I want to do theater, rather than having my dinner depend on whether I win an audition against long odds. It sounds like a terrible way to suck the joy out of the craft.

I have nonetheless helped a few actors build minor careers. Despite the fact that my main advice is "don't".

[boppo1]

I'm not interested in acting as a career at all, but I realized I'd love to try playing in local theater. How do I get in with no/low (I once read 'an actor preparss') background? Last I looked at it the local place was a bunch of people who went to school and had credentials. As far as starting my own, I'm worried there would be too many who would join and make a farce* out of it instead of striving for a serious, if amateur, effort.

*it's okay and ideal to have fun, but I've seen too many amateur bands/art projects/films/etc veer off due to members dismissing things 'cuz it's not for real' and just turning the effort into a hang-out

[jfengel]

Community theaters may have trained people in its management, but the cast and crew are usually untrained. Even reading Stanslavski once puts you ahead of most.

If you're looking at a regional theater (the kind where they actually pay people, albeit a pittance and most of the actors have day jobs), there will usually be a community theater in the area. If there's enough of an audience to support a regional theater, there will be others who want to do it just for fun.

Even if they don't have a place in the cast, they will often need techs of various kinds: lights, sound, props, costumes, stage management. It's a lot easier to cast somebody that you know can do things like "show up on time" and "be responsible". Actors... yeah. Even non-professionals.

(Bonus: I still use a light board with an actual floppy disk. The thing it replaced is literally a box of dimmer switches that they call Old Sparky. It's still in the closet. Theaters are fun places.)

Some areas really don't have community theaters. Mine had plenty, but I did actually start a theater of my own on shockingly little experience. Rent a performance venue, find a place to rehearse, get a script, put some notices on the relevant Facebook groups, and get ready for some Drama!

[PaulHoule]

To get acting gigs at any level the one thing you have to do is go to auditions.

There is all kinds of training you can get which can help but ultimately you have to “just do it”.